Here are the 50 busiest domestic air routes in Australia

Courtesy of Australia’s Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE), here are the 50 busiest domestic air routes in Australia by passengers travelled.

Source: BITRE

Unsurprisingly, the busiest routes are between Australia’s three largest cities, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.

Passenger traffic between Sydney and Melbourne stood at 8.918 million in the year to April, almost double the number that travelled between Sydney and Brisbane over the same period.

Traffic between Melbourne and Brisbane, at 3.5 million, took out third spot in the rankings.

Outside of Australia’s three largest cities, it’s clear that the effects of the unwinding mining infrastructure boom are still being felt in Western Australia and Queensland.

Passenger traffic both interstate and intrastate from Perth is still weak, while travel between Brisbane and regional mining centres in Queensland also softened noticeably.

Of other points of note, the strongest growth in traffic over the past year was seen between Sydney and Hobart, Sydney and Ayers Rock and Melbourne and the Sunshine Coast.

All three are clearly linked to the tourism sector.

While this may reflect additional services between these routes, it also suggests that the weaker Australian dollar and softness in the domestic economy may be prompting an increasing number of people to holiday within Australia rather than abroad.

With inbound passenger arrivals from abroad also scaling fresh heights, this may also be contributing to new demand for travel to these locations.

From a national perspective, the BITRE said that 59.1 million passengers traveled domestically over the past 12 months, up 2.1% on the levels seen in the year to April 2016.

The data captures revenue passengers carried by Australian-registered operators of scheduled regular public transport services over Australian flight stages and fixed-wing charter operators, according to the BITRE.